1. Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a battery box for a railway vehicle that stores a battery as an emergency power source.
2. Description of the Related Art
In general, a railway vehicle is equipped with a battery as an emergency power source to maintain functions such as ventilation within a cabin or lighting within a passenger cabin for a certain time even when supply of an electric power from an electric-car line is cut off or supply of an electric power is cut off due to breakdown of a generator or the like. The battery is typically stored in a battery box mounted on a car body.
In the conventional battery box used in a railway vehicle (e.g., Japanese Utility Model Publications Nos. Sho. 63-46374 and Sho. 63-30674), a movable tray (inner tray) on which a battery is equipped is pulled out from an inside of a casing of the battery box by opening a lid provided on a front face of the casing. The movable tray (battery) is put into and taken out from the battery box for the purpose of maintenance of the battery stored in the battery box, such as liquid level check, cleaning, charging, and replacement.
As shown in FIG. 10, wires 101 of a battery box 100 are directly connected to a battery 102. Therefore, the wires 101 are pulled out together with the battery 102 when a movable tray 103 on which the battery 102 is equipped is being pulled out. More specifically, guide rails 105 are installed on a bottom plate of a casing 100A. The guide rail 105 has longitudinal wall portions on both sides thereof and is therefore U-shaped in cross section. As shown in FIG. 11, when the movable tray 103 is pulled out from the casing 100A, a wheel 104 provided on a lower face of the movable tray 103 is guided along the guide rail 105 of the casing 100A.
When the movable tray 103 is moved onto a vertically movable up-down table of a table lift, the table lift is moved to a vicinity of the battery box and positioned by fixing a wheel of the table lift. Then, the up-down table of the table lift is set substantially as high as the movable tray 103, and the movable tray 103 equipped with the battery 102 is moved onto the up-down table.